LTE

GM has confirmed OnStar 4G pricing for the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac models getting baked-in LTE this year, including supporting tagging your car onto your existing AT&T Mobile Share plan. Plans for those without AT&T service but signed up for OnStar will kick off at $5 for 200MB of data per month, rising to $50 for 5GB.

Huawei has confirmed availability and pricing of its new Ascend P7 flagship smartphone, the 6.5mm-thick Android handset packing a total of 21-megapixels, though North America is sadly out of luck for the moment. The smartphone - which has a 5-inch Full HD display, quadcore processor, and LTE - will hit shelves this month.

T-Mobile USA has detailed its LTE expansion, having finally closed the deal to snap up a new chunk of low-band 700MHz A-Block spectrum which it intends to flush with 4G service before the year is out. "We anticipate customers will begin reaping the benefits as early as the end of this year," CTO Neville Ray wrote today, promising not only improvements in speed but in coverage, and how far signals reach into buildings.

US Cellular has outed a new 4G home router, offering LTE connectivity for those who perhaps aren't served by traditional DSL or cable providers, or who don't want to be fixed to one location. The 4G LTE Router needs to be plugged in to an AC supply - it's not a mobile hotspot with a battery for truly portable use - but can at least be packed up in your bag and moved between home or office.

AT&T GoPhone customers are going to get the advantage of more data at no additional cost, thanks to the changes of the smartphone plans, which will come into effect from April 25, 2014. Features like access to 4G LTE network with no annual contract and Wi-Fi hotspot sweeten the deal. Truth be told, the value of a smartphone is only complete when it supported with the right data plan.

T-Mobile is offering free 4G data for tablets, allowing subscribers with post-paid phone accounts to add their 4G-enabled slate to their agreement and, for a limited period, get 1GB of data at no cost. Dubbing the announcement - with a little of its by-now-expected hyperbole - "Operation Tablet Freedom", the new promotion follows Wednesday's Simple Starter plan.

T-Mobile USA has launched a new "value" plan, Simple Starter, offering LTE data including tethering, along with unlimited talk and text, for $40 per month. The new plan, part of what T-Mobile calls its continuing "Uncarrier" movement, will also distinguish itself by cutting 4G data access when the subscriber reaches the 500MB limit, rather than allowing them to go over and then charging them overage fees.

Apple has just made an announcement that could help it gain more ground in China. It has just made available a new version of the iPad Air and the iPad mini, both with Retina displays, that finally supports China's LTE networks.

Yesterday a new version of Microsoft's slate was announced, the Surface 2 LTE. Adding to the details that were provided is an announcement today from NVIDIA that its i500 LTE modem will be utilized in the LTE version of the Microsoft slate, giving the tablet both a Tegra 4 processor and the fifth-gen version of the maker's i500 modem.

A new version of Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet, this time packing integrated LTE connectivity for getting online while on the move, will go on sale from March 18th. The Windows RT slate will use AT&T's 4G network and be priced at $679 for the 64GB version, and is the first of Microsoft's Surface series of tablets to include integrated mobile broadband.